National Conservator Centre: we lack authority to assess steel structures at the ‘Macedonium’
Center says it cannot verify measures taken by another authority; steel frames will be installed on all eight galleries by August 1 at a cost of €89,500.
The National Conservator Centre in Skopje says it has no legal authority to assess temporary protective measures already taken by another competent body, after the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage gave the Centre three days to verify whether steel frames installed at the Macedonium monument in Krusevo damage the structure or are professionally acceptable.
“The Center does not have the legal authority to verify or evaluate temporary protection measures already taken by another competent body. Therefore it cannot confirm or dispute their professional justification, but will act exclusively within the scope of its legal powers,” said Aleksandar Jordanoski, director of the National Conservator Centre - Skopje.
Administration ordered check after inspectors found irregularities
The Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage asked the Conservator Centre to examine the steel constructions after its inspectors, responding to public concern this week, visited the site and concluded the intervention was illegal, that the Administration had not issued a permit and that the only measure it had issued last year was a decision declaring the monument a cultural property in danger, director Chestoeeva said.
The Institute and Museum – Prilep, which has direct responsibility for the monument, replied that the intervention is a temporary preventive protective measure specified in point 2 of the decision declaring the site in danger and argued that when cultural heritage is at risk, under Articles 43 and 59 of the Law on Protection of Cultural Heritage, a conservator’s approval is not required because the work is not conservation, restoration or remediation of the object.
According to the Institute, the steel frames to protect the monument from atmospheric degradation will be fitted on all eight galleries with glass and stained glass by August 1. The measure costs €89,500.
The Macedonium is a first-category monument, unveiled in 1974; its authors are the architects Jordan and Iskra Grabul.
Photo: press material from the event
